158 THE LORE OF THE HONEY-BEE 
aérial navigator, but that she sustains and propels 
herself through the air with very little effort. 
Obviously her equipment for flight must be a 
thoroughly efficient one, and yet at first glance 
it is not quite clear how she manages so well. 
The student of the flight-problem, taking his ideas 
and conception of first principles from the flight 
of birds, is accustomed to believe that there are 
at least two vital indispensable elements in the 
process—a pair of wings or combination of aéro- 
plane and propellers that will sustain as well as 
drive, and some sort of steering-apparatus like the 
bird’s tail. Yet, as far as a first general inspection 
carries us, the bee appears to have no rudder- 
mechanism at all, but to depend on her four wings 
for every purpose. The wings of the bird have 
a variable action. They can be used together or 
separately, and are as capable of eccentric adjust- 
ment, both in themselves and in relation to one 
another, as a pair of human arms. But the bee’s 
wings have none of this adaptability. They have 
but the one motion, up and down; and they work 
symmetrically, each wing keeping time with its 
fellow. Yet the bee steers herself perfectly well 
in a hundred different evolutions, accomplishing 
all that the bird attains with his more complicated 
apparatus for flight. 
The whole problem is bound up with another 
problem ; and the two, difficult of solution apart, 
easily resolve one another when taken in con- 
